Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! This was a phenomenal book and one that I wasn’t too sure about. The story follows Ava, who we meet boarding the Titanic with her father and Taylor, who is in England studying at Oxford for the summer. These two women’s lives are intertwined but you’re not quite sure how. Taylor meets Mae, her “benefactor” for the summer in England, but the night she meets her, Mae ends up dead - starting a game of “who done it” while Taylor tries to figure out who Mae is to her story. This story has so many twists and turns and thoroughly kept me enthralled and on the edge of my seat!! Highly recommend this one!!

3*

I wish I was a bigger mystery fan, because this book has so much to offer!

I admit I was hungering for a Titanic book more than anything and so this cover grabbed me immediately, and I am happy to say that there is indeed a strong narrative set on the Titanic that completely scratched my itch. That storyline is interwoven with a modern day plot that I admittedly liked a lot less, but I think a lot of that was down to my being British. The slang the author applied to the British ensemble was real stereotypical stuff that doesn't actually get said here, and it took me out of the story every time.

Otherwise, however, this book was well written with strong voices for both protagonists. I really liked Taylor and Ava both, they certainly appeal to fans of independent and headstrong women!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC

The Poppy and the Rose is captivating—historical fiction mixed with gothic mystery. Taylor is a likable heroine, with her wit, drive, and flaws. Most of the book read at a good pace, and its crafted descriptions created a pleasant story to be engulfed within. The end wrapped up cleanly and happily, albeit quickly.

I won't be able to rate this book as I was not able to read it. The way it downloaded made it look like one sentence was on top of another.

Loved it! I just read practically non-stop from 60% on because I couldn’t put the book down! I love time-slip novels and I love YA fiction, but there aren’t many YA time-slip novels published at this time (at least not that I know of). I’m happy to say that this is an amazing YA time-slip novel and I’m so glad I read it! It can be hard to balance both the contemporary and historical sections of time-slip novels, but this book is beautifully done. I liked the main characters, the writing was evocative, and the storyline was gripping, all of which contributed to my enjoyment of this book. I also really appreciated that the romance was sweet and that there was only mild swearing in the book. I highly recommend this novel, and I look forward to reading more books by this author!

Content:
Mild swearing
Sweet romance with a few kisses

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It was a very fast-paced book, I liked the dual POV and I think it was done very well, I especially loved the flashbacks, it has a great plot that keeps you turning the pages and without noticing it you have finished the book, I think the characters were well developed and in the end, this is a very well written book with interesting characters and a great mystery, I would recommend this to my friends or anyone who likes dual POV comparing the past and the present.

This was a good book in many ways, but I didn’t really like the dual timelines in it. Ava’s story was interesting and well told but Taylor’s story couldn’t keep my interest. When there’s multiple storylines, the more modern ones tend to lose my interest quickly unless it’s really excellent, and Taylor’s story was pretty standard fare without any exciting twists and turns in the plot. But the historical timeline in 1912 was more original and entertaining and I really enjoyed Ava’s character and most of the historical details seemed to be pretty accurate.

If this book had a single narrator I would have rated it much higher.

“The Poppy and the Rose” follows Taylor as she visits London to participate in an exchange program at Oxford but her real focus is to uncover the truth behind the photo of her late father with another woman. Along the way she meets her older benefactor who claims to know who the woman is and will share that information at the cost of listening to her story but when that older woman is found dead a larger plot is revealed.

This story is spilt between modern day Taylor and Ava a young woman as she boards the ill fated Titanic and apart from their daddy issues they don’t have anything else in common. These two stories are set up to parallel each other as both women try to figure out if their parent is having an extramarital affair only the former spends her chapters reading the memoir which features Ava’s story and doesn’t do much else.

Where Taylor’s narrative fades in and out of the details surrounding the sinking we never really get anywhere with her up until the ending where it’s all a rather basic and boring reveal and I hate to say it but this is the first time I actually read a large section of a multiple POV book by skipping over her chapters entirely as they offered nothing to the much larger story. I did eventually go back and read it through like it was written but all it did was cement the fact that you could jump over any chapter featuring Taylor and the end result would be a pretty great story and that’s not at all something you would achieve if you read it the opposite way.

Ava has a lot going on both with the pressure of society on a young woman and the lingering doubts she has about her father and the new friend he seems to have made onboard. Furthermore she is brought in by a mysterious figure to play spy for his purpose all the while it offers her a chance to obtain evidence and confront her father outright. This is so much more exciting than anything offered in the modern day as it touches upon the lengths one will go to protect their children, class warfare, the horrors of war and how history is shaped by people more so than the tragedies whether they are cowardly enough to jump into a lifeboat taking the seat saved for a child or smart enough to blackmail survivors into doing what’s right for victims. Each component of her story offered a lot of insight not only into that point in history but offered a new side to the story that we all know and love by letting us see the pure hatred of those left on board toward the elite who made it to a lifeboat as Ava is very much part of that group and her facing that hatred was an interesting foil to that of Rose Dawson going down with the ship.

This is such a hard book to rate because if I’m just going off Ava’s story it’s a solid 5 stars where Taylor’s would be a 1 but seeing as I have to judge the work as a whole piece it brings it down a considerable amount which is unfortunate.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

I read an advanced copy of, The Poppy and The Rose, by Ashlee Cowles. This story weaves between 1912 with Ava on the Titanic, and 2010 with Taylor in Oxford. Family secrets come to light in this great book, I loved the characters and the settings.